Brad Miller, who forged a special relationship with Rick Adelman over the course of his 14-year NBA career, played his final game last week. (Rights: Bryan Patrick, Sacramento Bee, 2004)
It’s not often that an NBA player gets to retire on his own terms. It’s probably happening for several old stalwarts this summer – 2004 NBA Champion and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace has revealed he’ll likely hang ‘em up. Then there’s Kurt Thomas, the oldest player in the NBA, whose 17-year career saw him join the elite group of players to have appeared in over 1000 games last season.
The retiree I’d like to pay homage to today, though, is Brad Miller. Brad was the Euro-center before the NBA knew what a Euro-center was. In his early days with the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls, Miller’s tendency for long-range shooting probably lost him as many minutes as it gained him, but can you tell me an elite big man in the game today who either can’t shoot or isn’t developing a jump shot? Hell, even Andrew Bynum’s been at it this season.
